


as the stars go, so do I

by ThirtySixSaveFiles



Series: as the stars go [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Almost a Firefly AU, Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Minor peril, Multi, SCIFI AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 09:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirtySixSaveFiles/pseuds/ThirtySixSaveFiles
Summary: Ryuji Sakamoto brings many skills to the crew of theArsene: navigating in zero-g, salvaging parts from derelict machinery, escaping certain death.Giving his boyfriends heart attacks, although that last one is unintentional.





	as the stars go, so do I

**Author's Note:**

> This came out of a prompt on tumblr by user fleurdeliser. Turns out poly sci-fi aus are the way to my heart, who knew.
> 
> Note 8/24/18: the ship's name has been updated from the _Phantom_ to the _Arsene_ for author-pleasing reasons.

The comm crackles loudly in his ear and Ryuji winces.

“Say again? You’re breaking up.” He leans as far as his tether will allow, peering over the edge into the guts of the derelict, lit by the faint glow of emergency strip lighting. The artificial gravity fritzes for a second, and his feet lift off the edge for a moment before settling back down.

“I _said_ ,” Futaba sounds annoyed even through the burst of static. “That the core is _zzzt zzzzt_ deep, _zzzttttttt zzzt zzzzzzzzttttttt_ even _if_ it’s sti _zzt_ active.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Ryuji thinks he gets the gist of that, even through the interference. The radcore is too deep into a ship that’s already breaking up, too deep to risk it, especially since it might be mostly depleted already. The wavering artificial gravity is evidence of that - although that could just be the relays giving out, Ryuji thinks. The freighter _is_ coming apart in pieces; Ryuji’s not sure what happened here, if it was a lightspeed calculation gone wrong or an unlucky run-in with raiders, but the escape pods are all gone. He hopes they made it.

The the thing _is._ The thing is that when Ryuji leans _just_ far enough over the edge, enough that the tether pulls against his synthsuit, he can see the bright blue pulse of a nearly full-charged radcore down in the engineering cage.

“Are you li _zzt_ ening?” Futaba snaps, and Ryuji leans back.

He’s listening. He’d _also_ been listening when she had said the core on the _Arsene_ was less than a quarter full; enough to get them to the central planets but not back out again, not fast. And for this job, they’re going to need to move fast - Akira had said so, looking drawn and tired during the last strategy session. He and Goro and Makoto are probably still holed up together going over calculations and orbital schedules, crafting the next infiltration.

It makes Ryuji’s head hurt just thinking about it. His skills are more conventional, at least for the scavenger he used to be before he met Akira.

“I hear you,” he says, detaching his tether from the hole in the hull. “Just - hang on a minute.”

“Ryuji, _don’t_ -” she starts but Ryuji raises his hand and thumbs off his comm as he pushes off into the depths of the derelict.

The gravity gives out twice more on his way down, which actually works to his benefit - it means he’s floating more than falling. His boots hit the metal of the cage with a _thump_ he can feel up his spine, but the magnets in the soles engage before he can bounce off again, and he makes his way step by careful step over to the access hatch.

The lock is still engaged, and Ryuji spares a second to wish Makoto were with him - she’s good at this kind of thing, but she’s back on the ship with everyone else, and the plan had been to be out and back before anyone except Futaba knew he had gone.

So instead of going through the hatch he goes around it, setting the miniature charges on the bars of the cage itself. He can’t hear the _thump_ when they go off but he can see the smoke curl and dissipate, the bars bending under the corrosion. He makes a mental note to thank Haru later; these would be a flashy bitch in oxygen but they’re perfect for vacuum-work, and when he takes the bars in his hands and _yanks_ a section comes clean off in his hands.

Up close the radcore is hard to look at and Ryuji’s goggles darken against the brightness; nevertheless he can’t feel any heat under his gloves as he carefully undoes the clamps and twists it out of its slot.

As it comes out in his hands, the lighting dies. As does the gravity.

 _Oh_ , Ryuji thinks as his feet lift off the floor. _Right._

He stuffs the glowing core in the insulated case he’d brought with him - the containment units are supposed to be shatterproof but Ryuji would hate the be the one to to learn how to break it by _accident_ \- even as the motion starts him gently spinning in place. He catches himself on the cage and rights himself. Looking up - or what feels like _up_ , without gravity directions are somewhat meaningless - he can just about make out the hole in the hull he came in through.

Then the whole ship _shudders_ around him, vibrating through the soles of his boots, and as he watches a section of the hull gently breaks apart from its surroundings and starts to drift off into the void. Seams start to appear down the entire length of the access tunnel, and the the ship _shudders_ again as it starts coming apart.

Ryuji swears. Well. At least he knows what happened to the freighter, now. It must have been one hell of a quick-thinking engineer, to reroute the radcore to hold the ship together after a Rosen Break, but there’s no time to dwell on that now, not if he wants to make it back to the _Arsene_ in one piece.

Ryuji double-checks that the case is secured to his belt before he pushes off, angling for the section of hull drifting off in a lazy rotation. If he’s lucky, he can rebound off that, with a straight shot back to the _Arsene’s_ airlock. He rotates so his feet hit the hull first, executes a textbook-perfect kick-off with a spin that will set him his course -

It works, so beautifully it’s almost a shame there’s no one there to see it. The stars spin around him and Ryuji whoops as he sails right into the _Arsene’s_ waiting airlock, catching himself on the ceiling netting as the opening cycles shut behind him. His legs drop as gravity kicks back in, the case suddenly hanging heavy from his belt. He dangles from the ceiling for a moment before dropping to the deck, unhooking the radcore’s case. A touch at the back of his neck turns off the vac-hat and he pushes his goggles up his forehead as he sucks in a breath of fresh - well, fresh-ish - recycled air.

He blows it back out again on a sigh when the door to the loading bay slides open and he’s met by two figures with identical glares.

Ryuji groans, letting the core case _thump_ to the deck. “Futaba ratted me out, huh.”

“She did,” Goro says, sounding thoroughly unimpressed. “What were you _thinking_ \- taking on a salvage mission _by yourself_ , and in a ship that was breaking up around you, no less?”

Ryuji rubs the back of his head and looks away. “I was - you were busy. I was just.” He shrugs. “Making myself useful.”

“ _Useful_ ,” Goro hisses. He leans forward, arms tight across his chest. “ _Useful_ would have been taking someone with you, would have been doing your _goddamned job_ here on the ship, would have -”

Akira puts his hand on Goro’s shoulder and Goro presses his lips together, but he stops. Ryuji looks away, over their heads, and fights not to cross his arms defensively. He didn’t do anything wrong. He got a fucking _radcore_ out of this, it they would just stop _yelling_ at him long enough to show them -

“You turned off your comm,” Akira says quietly, and his tone pulls Ryuji’s eyes back down to meet his. “You turned off your comm and Futaba couldn’t raise you, couldn’t even _scan_ you. And then the ship started breaking up.”

Goro exhales noisily and when Ryuji glances back over, his nostrils are flared and he’s looking away, mouth tight and shoulders set. He’s pissed, sure - Ryuji’s intimately familiar with how that looks - but underneath that -

Underneath that is _fear_.

“The, uh.” Ryuji swallows. “The radcore was all that was holding the ship together. So I kind of, uh. Caused that.”

Goro’s eyes snap back to his. “You _what_.” Akira’s faster on the uptake, and glances down at the case by Ryuji’s feet.

“I mean - it’s not like they were using it.” Ryuji slides the case over to Akira with his foot.

Akira stoops to pick up the case. He opens it and immediately turns his head away, squinting as the light from the core casts everything in shades of blue and silver. He shuts it again almost immediately, blinking as his eyes readjust.

“That’ll get us to the central planets and back, easy,” Ryuji says, stripping his gloves off and holding them awkwardly in one hand. “I just -”

“Wanted to be useful,” Akira interrupts. “Yeah. You said.”

Goro looks between the case and Ryuji and _growls_ , stalking forward until he can grab fistfulls of Ryuji’s synthsuit.

“You _idiot_ .” He shakes Ryuji for emphasis. “This is _not_ worth your life - did you even _think_ about what could have happened -”

“Hey.” Ryuji’s drops the gloves, curling his hands around Goro’s wrists. “I”m _fine_. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Goro glares at him for a long moment, then tears his wrists out of Ryuji’s grasp, spinning on his heel and stalking off toward the long starboard hallway. The door _swishes_ shut behind him and Ryuji and Akira are left looking each other.

“He’ll come around,” Akira says softly.

“Yeah.” Ryuji shuffles his feet. “What about you?”

Akira glances down at the case in his hands, then sets it carefully on the desk, closing the distance between them in two long strides. He slides one hand around the back of Ryuji’s neck, palm warm against Ryuji’s vacuum-chilled skin, while the other cups Ryuji’s cheek.

“Thank you,” Akira says sincerely, and that’s enough to make this all worth it, even before Akira leans in and kisses him, lips moving hot and fierce against his. He draws back long before Ryuji wants him to, pulling Ryuji's goggles off and resting his forehead against Ryuji’s.

“Thank you,” he repeats. “Now promise me you’ll never do that again.”

“I don’t -”

“I mean it.” Akira’s tone sharpens and his hand tightens on the back of Ryuji’s neck. “We thought you were _gone_. I know you can handle yourself but - don’t ever turn your comm off again. Please.”

Ryuji sighs. “Okay. I - I’m sorry I worried you.”

Akira hums, thumb stroking the short hairs at the base of Ryuji’s neck. “And what’s this about being _useful_ , anyway? You’ve saved our asses more times than I can count.”

Ryuji shrugs uncomfortably. “I’m no good at the planning part, I know that. I just - got antsy, I guess.”

“Listen to me,” Akira says, sliding his hands down to grasp Ryuji’s shoulders. “You are just as important as anyone on this crew. You have nothing to prove to anyone.”

Ryuji wishes he believed that as much as Akira does.

“Okay,” he says instead. “Okay, I won’t go off on my own again. And I won’t turn my comm off,” he says when Akira opens his mouth.

Akira grins. “Thank you.” He leans in again and the kiss this time is gentle, slow, and Ryuji makes sure it lasts a long, long time.

Later, after the rest of the crew has made their displeasure with Ryuji’s adventure known - Ann had told him off, and Haru had just looked disappointed, which was somehow the worst of all - Ryuji finds himself on the old comfortable sofa wedged beneath the central cooling vents, across from the starboard viewports. He’s always liked watching the stars, even as kid on a planet so overpopulated the light pollution had drowned out all but the brightest. Now he can see as many as he wants, anytime he wants, but the allure is still there, and he settles on one end of the sofa, letting his mind drift.

He’s startled out of his reverie by the couch shifting at the other end, and just as he’s about to - politely - explain that he’s all done being yelled at for today, thanks, a pair of feet land in his lap. Ryuji looks up to see Goro settling up on the other end of the couch, scowling at the readerpad in his lap.

“I”m still angry with you,” Goro says, staring fixedly at his screen.

“Okay,” Ryuji says, settling one hand on Goro’s ankle, cheered when he’s not immediately rebuffed.

“You could have been _killed_.”

He does seem hung up on that point. “But I wasn’t,” Ryuji points out carefully, and Goro huffs.

“That’s _not_ the issue.” He stabs at the readerpad and Ryuji pities whatever poor function is on the screen.

“I know,” he says, hand tightening on Goro’s ankle. “I - I’m sorry.”

Goro stabs at his screen a few more times, but it’s a little less vehement than before.

“I won’t do it again,” Ryuji offers.

“You will,” Goro sighs. “I know you. But I suppose that’s what I signed up for, isn’t it. Heart attacks and all.”

“I’m an adventure,” Ryuji says, grinning, and Goro laughs.

“You’re certainly hazardous to everyone’s health,” he allows, the corner of his mouth kicking up, and Ryuji settles back again, hand stroking idly on Goro’s calf.

Akira will find them here, sooner or later. Ryuji can picture clearly the soft smile the sight of the two of them together will put on his face, and it makes his own mouth curve up. That’s later, though; for now it’s enough to sit in the warmth of the air recycling system at his back and Goro’s presence at his side, lit by the glow of the readerpad and starlight.

Sometimes he doesn’t feel like he belongs here, among geniuses and heiresses and the sons of giants. He’s nobody special; but Akira and Goro seem determined to act as though he _is_ , and that’s. That’s hard to say no to.

It’s unconventional, Ryuji will allow that. But it’s also something like home.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at [ThirtySixSaveFiles](http://thirtysixsavefiles.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr and [36SaveFiles](https://twitter.com/36SaveFiles) on Twitter!


End file.
